NEW YORK—U.S. stocks tumbled after the opening bell, hit by heightened concerns over Europe as violence erupted in Greece and a possible downgrade loomed over Portugal’s debt.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 86 points, or 0.8%, to 10840, in early trading, extending Tuesday’s 225-point drop. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3% and Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index dropped 1%. Financials and consumer discretionary stocks led its declines.
The early drop came after Moody’s Investors Service placed Portugal’s government bond rating under review for a possible downgrade based on the deterioration of the country’s public finances and its long-term economic challenges. Meanwhile in Greece, a nationwide strike spiraled into violence. Three people were killed after a fire broke out at riots near an Athens bank.
The worries sent the euro crashing to new one-year low against the dollar as investors worried about the economic fallout. The U.S. Dollar Index, which represents the U.S. currency against a basket of six others, zoomed up 1.1%. As investors fled from riskier assets, crude-oil prices tumbled to below $80 a barrel. Gold futures also sank.
Investors said a potential downgrade to Portugal could impact portfolio managers obligated to pull out of assets downgraded to “junk” status by two of the three major credit rating agencies. Moody’s threatened to cut the country’s Aa2 rating by one or two notches, which would still leabe it invetsment-grade territory.
“Now it’s musical chairs, and do I want to be the one without a chair when this thing starts to go bad?” asked Bob Tull, chief operating officer at Old Mutual Global Index Trackers. “I don’t think anyone wants to be in that position anymore.”
Among Dow components, Alcoa was the worst performer, sliding 3.4% as metals futures sank. Economically sensitive components slipped, with General Electric down 2% and Caterpillar off 2.5%.
Merck reversed some of its Tuesday gains, sliding 1.5% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the pharma giant to “neutral” from “conviction buy” and lowered major pharma sector rating to “neutral” from “attractive,” citing disappointment with post-merger earnings.
However, consumer staples strengthened. Wal-Mart Stores gained 1%, while Procter &Gamble gained 0.7%.
Concerns over Europe overshadowed a slightly better-than-expected report on private sector employment from payroll giant Automatic Data Processing.
Private-sector employers added 32,000 jobs in April, according to ADP, more than the 20,000 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. On Friday, the government will release its key monthly jobs report for April. Economists expect the unemployment rate to stick at 9.7%, where it was in March.
Among stocks in focus, American International Group fell 3.9% after Britain’s Prudential PLC delayed the sale of $20 billion worth of stock as it sought regulatory clearance for a deal to buy AIG’s Asia unit American International Assurance in a $35.5 billion acquisition.
Time Warner fell 1.7%, despite reporting better-than-forecast first-quarter earnings, and News Corp., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, fell 7.7% after reporting a declining profit and warning lower film revenue will hit current quarter earnings.
By KRISTINA PETERSON
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York yesterday, as U.S. equities tumbled the most since February and European stocks erased their 2010 gain.
Tags: banks, Dow Jones Industrial, economy, investors, stock market, unemployment rate, us economy, us stocks, wall street
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